Acts 4:31 (NLT)
³¹ After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.

If you are following our Prayer and Fasting Calendar, today’s fast consists of juices and liquids.

This is my first year sticking with the fast and God has truly blessed me! I’ve had two wonderful experiences as a result of this year’s fast.

The first one was a direct answer to one of the 3 prayer requests I wrote down the Wednesday before the fast: Bring my husband and I closer and make our marriage stronger.

We’ve struggled with “arguing” about everything for a long time. Well, about 4 or 5 days after the fast started my husband spoke to me that evening that he didn’t want us to argue anymore, especially with the kids around. I agreed and we’ve actually been able to walk away at the point of it getting heated only to come back later and be able to calmly resolve the issue.

It’s been amazing!

The second happened during the last Friday night prayer service. In 2003 I was involved in a 4 car accident. I was hit from behind two times. As a result, I wound up with 4 pinched nerves at the base of my neck. After 10 weeks of physical therapy I was still dealing with pain and discomfort in my neck and shoulders.

Also, after the birth of our 3rd child, who is now 8, I developed chondromalacia in my knees. Simply put, the cartilage was softening in both of my knees. It was very painful at times and I couldn’t do simple things such as jumping, squatting, or even walking up stairs without a lot of discomfort.

I was 24 at the time.

Well, I went down for the healing prayer believing that God would restore both of these things and He did!!!!

As soon as I was anointed I felt a shot go through me followed by heat in both areas. That night was the first night in 4 years that I’ve been able to sleep peacefully!

Also, I had a physical on Tuesday for a new job I’m pursuing. The doctor made me squat down. I went all the way down with no problem and stood back up quickly and smoothly! I’ve been unable to do that for 8 years!

Praise God!

He is too good to me!

I believe that we go through situations sometimes just so God can show how He can move and orchestrate our lives. I’ve gone through several of these situations.

I bought my first home a year ago, and I felt a total peace about it. Everything really came into play pretty smoothly. I was able to get a good, fixed rate with just a good credit score and nothing down. I broke my apartment complex and miraculously after a month and half of waiting and calling, they found someone to move in that January 2nd where I didn’t owe an extra penny.

I couldn’t believe it.

I closed Dec. 20th of 2006. Three weeks later I was laid off from my job with the home builder I worked for. I think I cried on the way home and then just resolved to look for a new job starting that day. I pretty much thought that God brought me to buy my new home with so much coming into place that this just had to work out.

Let me also point out that I never did stop tithing. I remember tithing on my severance check with almost a laugh of humor verses despair. I continued to tithe on my small, part-time job checks as well. On a side note , I made a resolution to fully tithe during one of my stints of being without a job several years ago while listening to Pastor Stovall at UNF.

In a nutshell, I was out of a full time job for almost three months; I spent a lot of that time praying and reading the Word, just believing for God to work it out. Philippians 3 and 4 on perseverance and contentment. Hebrews 11 and 12 on faith. Isaiah 56 and Jeremiah 29 on His plan for us.

Through it all, I used any checks to just pay bills and every bill, including my new mortgage, was paid on time. I didn’t have anything in savings beforehand either, but different things came into play including a bigger tax check than expected. (Apparently, I paid points on my mortgage which got me a higher return than otherwise would. I didn’t remember the mortgage consultant telling me about paying points at all, but in the end I was thankful for them.)

I now have a job that has a $9,000 higher base salary than my previous one, plus commissions.

With the past year in the market, looking back I am thankful for the lay off when it was. Also with the way my taxes have gone up $300 since closing, there is no way I would have been able to afford the home with my previous job.

Sometimes when my job stresses me too much, I have to remember to be thankful for the job and paycheck that He gave me.

One last note, a few months ago after my roommate told me she was moving out, I was thinking how much harder it is being single supporting myself. Then God spoke to me stating that I am not alone; that He is there supporting me as my provider more than any husband could do. I suddenly had tears feeling His comfort and peace.

God brings us through times to encourage others and show His glory as well as encourage ourselves in the future.

My husband has always had a desire to start his own business and two years back he even incorporated, but his business couldn’t take off.

Towards the end of last year and beginning of this year, he wanted to dissolve his company because he wasn’t getting any business and any business he was getting meant he had to work out of state which he did not want because it meant being away from his family.

Well, the first week of fasting he was at work and his co-worker sent him an email about an opportunity with a different company and he asked my husband if he was interested. My husband called the company and before we knew it he had a contract with them. This opportunity will allow him to do business using his company and the prospects of growing his company have started.

We thank God for this opportunity because it allows us to give and be a blessing to others.

At first we were like is this because of the fasting or what? I think it is; the moment you decide to fast the Holy Spirit starts moving on your behalf.

We are so blessed and are overflowing with gratitude and humility. We are praying that we would continue to be generous as God blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others and that we continue to give to the cause so that many more people can be saved and receive eternal life.

1 John 5:14 (NLT)
¹⁴ And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.

If you are following our Prayer and Fasting Calendar, today’s fast consists of juices and liquids.

I had my spiritual awakening today. It was neat, funny, great and surprising all wrapped up in one.

I have to start from the beginning. My mother told me about my brother’s blessing yesterday. The Lord not only blessed him with a good job, but a good job with a great salary. The first thing I thought was that with the money he was making I could really use it to help support my family more.

So then I was thinking about the fast and how maybe I was doing something wrong because nothing happened. So I went to work today and began to speak with Cleo who is one of the guys I work with. He began to just talk to me about how God was dealing with him and how when you pray not only should you talk but listen as well. I always thought there was a format to praying and that it should be a long drawn out thing.

Man was I ever wrong!

Not only did I not know how to pray, but I didn’t know how to discern the voice of God either. I left work and on the way home I heard something say read Psalm 23:1. Me being me, I started saying why, for what, what does that say?

The whole ride home Psalm 23:1 was on my mind. So when I got home and read Psalm 23:1 which reads “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” I thought, “that was so weird because that was the answer to my questions and the answer to my fasting.” Then I had to share the news with my mom.

I finally heard and obeyed the voice of God and it feels great. I just want to take in more and read more. I feel like my eyes have opened and I see a whole new world.

It’s a great feeling and it’s a feeling I pray I will have forever.

During the Christmas break, my family went with the Hayes family to Wintergreen, Virginia to ski. The first day of skiing I got in a ski accident and the day after Christmas, I found out I had completely torn my ACL in the knee.

The doctors were saying intense physical therapy and more than likely surgery. But I knew that God could heal it and I really didn’t want surgery. So I dedicated my fast to healing my ACL. But then another problem came up - tendinitis in my left wrist. So I prayed over my wrist and the next day the pain left COMPLETELY!!! I was so overjoyed!

But the day before, I had popped my knee out of place and the doctors said that it had gotten worse and significantly unstable. I was so sad I got home and cried and became very discouraged. So I told everyone to please keep me in their prayers. I got a message from the intern youth pastor at my church and he was praying for me, so I started praying intensely for about 15 minutes and when I started moving my knee the pain was COMPLETELY gone!!!

I got up and started crying, AMAZED at the power of the Lord!

My husband and I had an opportunity to visit my family in DC for Christmas, and it was on the plane ride home that I had an awakening.

Our plane was stalled before take off due to some lightning, so we patiently sat and waited. I graciously decided to give my much coveted window seat to my husband this ride, and I sat in the middle seat. I began to notice the conversation in the row in front of me, and though I usually try to give people their privacy and not eavesdrop, I could not help it this time.

The 3 passengers in front of me had introduced themselves and through our long wait for takeoff seemed to be finding comfort in each others’ stories of 2007.

I heard a sweet-sounding blond, southern lady telling her new friends how her husband had passed away earlier this year in the beginning of her 3rd pregnancy. She said she spent her entire pregnancy mourning the death of her husband, waiting to give birth to ease the pain only to find it was that much harder not to have him there to share all the sweet moments of their precious child.

It turned out that the gentle, middle-aged man in the middle seat had also recently lost his wife and expressed the difficulty of raising 2 teenage daughters by himself. Then, the woman on the aisle gave her new friends solace by expressing compassionately that she thought she had a hard year, losing her brother, being a single mom, and taking care of her elderly mother by herself, but her pain could not compare to her neighbors who had lost their spouses.

Needless to say, I began crying, almost sobbing, as I listened to what 2007 had brought these precious people. I felt, though, that it was a holy moment and that the Lord wanted to speak to me in that plane.

I looked over at my husband, who began asking what was wrong with me and laughing at me for eavesdropping and crying at the same time (he was not paying attention to the conversation), and feelings of thanksgiving and hope awoke in me.

Having gone through my share of trials and disappointments in 2007, I felt a strength and hope from the Holy Spirit fill me as I sat on that runway. I felt my heart begin to grow soft again, and I started to let go of bitterness and anger that I had harbored through such circumstances.

As I recounted all of the things I had to be thankful for, I began to focus on the hope that I have in my God, not my circumstances.

Maybe you’re reading this and you feel like you haven’t quite gotten your breakthrough or you don’t understand why the miracle you have believed God for has not happened. I want to encourage you not to let your heart grow hard or lose your faith in God. When we face trials in life, I really believe that the enemy is after our faith and hope in God . . . if he can destroy that, he can destroy our lives. We have to stand firm and trust in our faithful God. We may not understand why some prayers are not answered the way we’ve asked them to be, but one thing we do know is that we can HOPE in God!!

I love this Psalm . . .

Psalm 42:11 (NKJV)
¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

I pray you have many holy moments with God this year, recounting His goodness and focusing on the hope that we can have in Him through all circumstances. Let HOPE and THANKSGIVING awake in you during this season . . . maybe that is the underlying breakthrough or miracle you need.

Kassie Fowler
Celebration Staff

Just wanted to remind everyone that this weekend we will have bestselling author and international speaker John Bevere at the Midtown Campus for all our weekend services. Click here for service times.

Also don’t forget the Saturday evening services will be a different message than the Sunday morning services. So if you’re looking to get a double-dose of John Bevere or looking to check out our Saturday services, this weekend will be a great weekend to try!

Philippians 4:19 (NLT)
¹⁹ And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

On the third day of the fast, I stopped by the grocery store to get some fruit, vegetables and juice. I got one of those little carry baskets as I usually do and then overload it before I’m done. Well, while waiting in line with my 30 lb little basket, an older gentleman said “Get in front of me and put your basket down in my cart. It looks heavy.” It was heavy, but I didn’t put it in his cart; I put it on the floor. He said “The good thing about these stores is they have these things with wheels.” Haha.

When I got up to the cashier, she began ringing and I reached in my back pocket for my debit card and realized at some point I must have taken it out. I asked the girl to stop ringing because I only had 15 dollars in cash and we were at 17 dollars. The gentleman behind me said, “Don’t stop ringing anything. Just put those groceries on my bill.” I said, “Oh no sir, I have some money to pay for it.” He said “Please don’t embarrass me, I do this from time to time. LET ME DO IT FOR YOU.”

God spoke to me right then and said “This is a blessing from me because you just lost your job.” So I let the man purchase my groceries and God blessed me. I asked the man his name and thanked him again. He said “Wilson. You won’t recognize me again if you see me.” I replied, “I’ll recognize you in heaven, sir.” He said “I’ll be there.”

I wanted to share this with you all because God provides all our needs.

Amen.